Cosmic auras by Sanjay Bhattacharya

Sanjay Bhattacharya is a renowned name in art world who is known for his uniqueness and exclusivity. For a Bengal born painter, who has travelled extensively in India – like his fellow folk, Sanjay has been imbibing and storing many striking images that make up his and our India.

Works of the artist are open for display at the Visual Art Gallery, IHC, New Delhi from September 19 – 29.

The Indian circus has changed in the years of the artist's maturity, but the essential elements remain the same, especially in the places of pilgrimage. The new journey which is mirrored in this show was meant to take the viewers in all the four directions of the compass, In the East, Bhattacharya picked Bengal Kalighat temple and Kamakhya, Assam.

In the North, Bhattacharya chose the most-visited site in India – the sacred place of the Sikhs – where the allure of God and gold are equated in some religious reasoning much as other religions do when they put the precious in their places of worship. Here again, the literal is broken with the Akali symbol which stands midway in the canvas as a contemporary art installation.

The West remains a canvas-to-be, where the Sai Baba of Shirdi will expand a new vision of the faqir of miracles. But how does one conceptualise or dare to describe an unpainted image.

Tirupati represents the South, with its Vaishnav symbol atop a brass lamp flaunted against the hills and sky. Another Vishnu symbols in the conch, as well as Lord Rama, most ardent devotees find a place in the collage to demonstrate Sanjay's painterly skills. His Bengal work dares the daring goddess. His art breaks this barrier and updates the norms of egalitarianism even with the gods, who in any case are fashioned in India after human beings.